


What We Know

by didsomeonesayventus



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-04 02:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4122630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/didsomeonesayventus/pseuds/didsomeonesayventus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noctis woke up in the middle of the night again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What We Know

Noctis woke up. Again. Middle of the night. He stared at the blank tent canopy above. The moon didn’t quite illuminate everything, but bestowed enough light to send shadows flickering across it. The prince rolled over, watching his fingers drum against the ground. It was preferable to what else he could be thinking of. The radio static of his dream- nightmare, actually -was still buzzing in his ears, a woman’s voice so calmly saying terrible, terrible things-

“Highness?”

Noctis heard the shuffle next to him, and his fingers froze. A gloved hand held his shoulder, “Noctis, are you well?”

Noctis pretended to sleep. It wasn’t hard, since he slept all the time. Ignis’s hand made a gentle stroke down his arm, light enough to be mistaken for an insect or spider, and if the prince was truly out cold he would do nothing.

He hissed and whirled around, “Ignis! You KNOW I don’t like that!”

Ignis shook his head, “I had to make sure you were asleep.”

“I WAS until you did that!” Noctis continued his under-breath ranting as he sat up, “You know I don’t like bugs! Ugh!”

Ignis only chuckled. After a time he stopped, and quietly pulled out his glasses, “Now, what was it tonight?”

Noctis rubbed his hand, “Nothing.”

“Noctis,” Ignis reached for Noctis’s hands and pulled them away, “you had another nightmare.”

Noctis pulled his hands back, but let them stay in his lap. He looked at Gladio and Prompto, too deep in slumber to really care about the quiet drama only a foot or so away. He sighed. One hand rubbed his face, trying to make it feel something instead of a numb buzz, “Look... I just woke up-”

“Noctis, what was it?” Ignis asked again, forever unyielding. “It’s not healthy to bottle up negative feelings-”

“Is he really gone?” The words tumbled out of Noctis in a suddenly light, teary whine. It was a strained gasp, not unlike a beast had come and punched him in the solar plexus. He asked it again, “Is he really gone?”

They both knew who “he” was.

Ignis sighed, “Well, it’s not an impossible-”

“I-I didn’t even get to see him die... I didn’t even get to tell him I loved him o-or just one, last, meaningful goodbye, Ignis!” Noctis continued, blubbering now, “I wasn’t even there!”

Ignis leaned forward and held Noctis’s shoulder again, “None of us were-”

“But he was my father! I-I...” Noctis couldn’t finish, “T-they just said... the radio... He’s gone... I’ll never see him again.”

Ignis racked his brain a moment for something to reassure Noctis. “Are we dead?” He asked.

“What?!” Noctis snapped at him, “No! Of course we aren’t!” He then added a hesitant and confused, “W-well, maybe. T-this might just be a special hell made just for us-”

“Well the radio broadcast said we were dead.” Ignis reached forward and held Noctis’s hands firmly in his own, “And we’re not.”

Something shifted in the boy’s eyes. There was always several layers to that gray-blue gaze, as Ignis liked to think: Layer 1, indifference; Layer 2, immaturity; Layer 3, complete and utter turmoil and suffering. Layer 1 was already broken. Layer 2 was in full force of being shattered. But beyond the pain of watching his prince being unraveled day by day (hopefully to be forged into a strong, strong ruler like his father) there was a satisfaction. Layer 3 seemed to ease a bit. It seemed to shrink at the words. Quiet. Peace. Resolution. Hope.

“Right now,” Ignis said, “the fate of your father rests in a rather quantum situation. He was announced dead, but so were we. We haven’t witnessed what transpired in the capital, and so therefore until we see for ourselves your father could be very much dead, or he could be very much alive.” Ignis raised his hand and stroked Noctis’s cheek, “And he could be tearing apart all of Etro’s creation, looking just for you.”

Noctis fell forward into a tight embrace. He shook for a moment or two with sobs, but slowly they gave away into the usual six-feet-under coma that was Noctis’s sleeping patterns. Ignis gently set Noctis back on his bedroll, removed his glasses, and went back to sleep with a satisfied smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Man Episode Duscae is really giving me this vibe that basically all the Niflheim invading goes on while the gang is out adventuring for fun and not because they have to and like I'm not ok


End file.
